Tile: consistent flow throughout or independent rooms?

12 years ago

I'm not sure if this is more of a decorating question than a flooring question.

I'm having my kitchen remodeled including new tile floors. The tile currently covers about half the house so we're planning to replace it all at once with the kitchen. My Kitchen Designer/Contractor adamantly believes that tile should cleanly flow throughout the house and is urging me to use one tile in one pattern for all the connected areas. That includes the kitchen and eat-in, two hallways, two bathrooms, the foyer, and the laundry room. The only tile area excluded is the master bathroom.

I was thinking that I might want to use different tile, or perhaps just different sized tile, in some of those rooms. Perhaps there could be a decorative transition between the rooms where the tile changes? I like the semi-random look of multi-tile patterns in the larger areas but diagonals in the long narrow bathrooms for example.

Is my KD right? Should I treat all the connecting areas as one large space and stick with one size or one pattern?

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Comments (2)

floorman67
12 years ago
its a decorating/style question. You should install whatever you prefer. Has nothing to do with installation structure or integrity, other than laying it out properly. Use a piece of graphpaper to help visualize and experiment with different looks/patterns/layouts/ boaders/etc.
weedyacres
12 years ago
It depends on the feel you're striving for. The same pattern flowing through all rooms makes them feel connected and flowing. Different patterns sets off each room as a separate entity. Which one do you want?

FWIW, we opted to do a continuous pattern throughout our kitchen, breakfast nook, sunroom, mudroom, powder room, and pantry/storage.

If you do want to separate patterns, I'd limit it to those with doors that close off. So that might mean that the laundry room and bathrooms have their own patterns, but the kitchen, eat-in, foyer, and halls flow together. And I'd avoid a completely different tile, but just use the same tile with a different layout, different sizes, or some decorative accents thrown in. That way the rooms are still cohesive.
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